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Maybe it’s a unique form
of separation anxiety, but getting relatives to part with beloved family recipes can
be a challenge.“If they share anything at all, they leave something out on purpose,” jokes Jennifer Felicia Abadi,
a New York-based cooking instructor and chef who also consults with individuals
on how to preserve their family recipes.

Abadi’s experiences with
her late Syrian Jewish grandmother, Fritzie, inspired her to help others interested in decoding the mysteries of the family kitchen.

Abadi grew up eating Fritzie’s Syrian delicacies, both after school and at elaborate dinner parties complete with seating charts and written records of menus (to avoid serving guests the same thing twice).

There were also sambusak-making sessions with
Fritzie and Abadi’s great-grandmother, where all available relatives (female,
of course) were enlisted to crimp the tiny, meat-filled delicacies by the hundreds.

Still, the method for making the dough and filling remained under wraps, and eventually Fritzie’s family sought ways to preserve her recipes. That’s when Abadi’s mother, Annette, unearthed a tattered three-ring binder of old recipes and handed it to her daughter. It was the beginning of a dozen-year journey to unlock the secrets of Fritzie’s kitchen, with countless days spent listening, watching and taking notes on cooking times, temperatures, techniques and, perhaps most importantly, those elusive extra shakes of salt, pepper and spice that even the best cooks tend to forget in translation.

Abadi’s work culminated in
A Fistful of Lentils (Harvard Common Press), a Syrian Jewish cookbook filled with easy-to-follow recipes and savory stories that form a priceless chronicle of her extended family’s heritage.

As soon as the book came out, people began to approach her at book signings and cooking demonstrations.
“I wish I could do what you did,” they would tell her enviously, “but no one is around to show me how.”

Realizing there was an untapped market for a
“family recipe sleuth,” Abadi now helps people unlock
the secrets to recipes.

One time Abadi was approached by a family interested in preserving recipes passed down
from their Hungarian
najdmama (grandmother).
By researching and reformulating everything
from cherry pastries to chicken paprikash, Abadi helped them fulfill their dream of tasting these dishes.

“It’s never too late to preserve what you have,” Abadi adds. “Think of it as a starting point for what you’re going to pass on to your children and grandchildren.”

These Passover recipes, from Abadi’s cookbook, are an example of just how delicious family history can be.

Click here for Passover Recipes